The present invention relates to a unique process and apparatus for making a new matrix material resulting from transformation of the morphology of feedstock material.
The art of material processing has developed significantly in recent years. Increased awareness of the impact that different substances have on the environment and on the species found therein has fostered a virtual explosion of technology for providing alternative forms of material. Well-known substances have been subjected to close scrutiny to discover clean, efficient, and controlled methods of handling and exposing them to the world. It is also important to develop new forms of material for application in various fields.
One area of material processing includes technology which relates to the reduction of material structure by use of heat during processing. Processing food and food ingredients many times includes such technology.
For example, a series of U.S. patents issued to Thomas E. Chivers (U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,846, U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,134, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,717) disclose a solution process for making candy floss from a cooked slurry or syrup. The ingredients are blended and heated at a first temperature, e.g., 200.degree.-205.degree. F. (93.degree.-96.degree. C.), to form a slurry. After forming the slurry, the batch is cooked or boiled at a substantially higher temperature, e.g., about 340.degree. F. (171.1.degree. C.), and thereafter discharged through an atomizing nozzle. Most of the moisture contained in the molten candy flashes off as it is discharged. The Chivers disclosures rely on dissolution of the ingredients, e.g., sugar and other ingredients, in water and then heating extensively to drive the water from the solution. Most of the water is driven off after discharging the solution. Thus, the Chivers technology suffers from drawbacks associated with sustained high temperature processing and dissolution of ingredients during processing.
Another method for process material is disclosed in European Patent Application 0 387 950 A1 of Stork. The Stork process is a method of preparing a foam spray-dried product by collision of a stream of gas which contains dry particulate material, with a jet of droplets of a liquid solution. A liquid solution which contains at least one of the ingredients of the end product is combined with gas and heated before spraying as a jet of droplets for collision with the dry particulate. The Stork system is designed to process a low density product; it requires an elaborate equipment arrangement, and is energy intensive.
UK Patent Specification G B 2 155 934 B of Shukla, et al. discloses a method for crystallizing sucrose or glucose from a solution. Shukla, et al. subject a sugar solution to evaporation to produce a supersaturated sugar solution. The supersaturated solution is then subjected to shear in a continuous screw extruder to induce nucleation. The retention time of the syrup is below 25 seconds (on the average) at a temperature of 115.degree. C. to 145.degree. C. (239.degree. F.-293.degree. F.) for sucrose and 100.degree. C.-135.degree. C. (215.degree. F.-275.degree. F.) for glucose. After the syrup is subjected to progressive nucleation, Shukla, et al. pass the syrup onto a moving band to permit crystallization to continue at a gradual rate at relatively high temperature. The Shukla, et al. process requires maintenance of the solution at temperatures which do not drop below the boiling point of water.
Other disclosures include British Patent Specification No. 1 460 614 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,725 (Tate & Lyle Limited) which disclose a continuous process wherein a syrup solution is catastrophically nucleated and discharged into a crystallization zone. Catastrophic nucleation is achieved by subjecting the solution to shear force which can be applied in an apparatus such as a colloid mill or homogenizer. The solution is discharged onto a moving band where the water must be boiled off by maintaining the material at a relatively high temperature. A related process has been disclosed in British Patent Specification 2 070 015 B and U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,603, which is used for crystallization of glucose. In the disclosed procedure, a supersaturated solution is subjected to shear force and allowed to crystallize on a belt. Both the sucrose process and the glucose process require solution processing at high temperatures and are, consequently, energy intensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,331 to Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,350 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,757 describe a process for crystallizing sugar, which involves impact beating a sugar solution to provide nucleation. The process involves input of considerable amount of energy and has problems directly related to temperature control.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,197,338 to Hurst, et al. discloses a process for crystallizing glucose which includes kneading a glucose solution to induce nucleation followed by crystallization to form a solid glass which is then ground. Another glucose crystallization process has been disclosed in GB 2 077 270 B in which starch hydrolyzate is concentrated by evaporation and then simultaneously crushed and mixed during crystallization while cooling. The product is further milled. These processes also require nucleating by beating a solution which includes glucose.
More recently, technology for material processing has been disclosed by Dr. Richard C. Fuisz. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,326 various substances having pharmological properties were combined with sugar and spun to produce a readily water-soluble product. Other disclosures which relate to spinning substances with one or more sugars are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,085, U.S. Pat. No., 5,034,421, U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,856 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,632. U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,421 to Fuisz discloses spun matrix systems containing medicaments having predetermined release patterns.
The examples in the Fuisz disclosures set forth above describe processing feedstock material by subjecting it to high speed spinning on a spinning head in which the substance is also subjected to heating against a heating element. The change of temperature is quite large, which is believed to be occasioned by the spinning head quickly and efficiently spreading the feedstock material against the heating element circumferentially disposed around the perimeter of the spinning head. Thus, extensive surface contact of the feedstock is provided against the heating element itself while being spun.
The feedstock material is heated sufficiently to create an internal flow condition which permits part of the feedstock to move at a subparticle level with respect to the rest of the mass and exit openings provided in the perimeter of the spinning head. The centrifugal force created in the spinning head flings the flowing feedstock material outwardly from the head so that it reforms with a changed structure. The force required to separate and discharge flowable feedstock is only the centrifugal force which results from the spinning head. These examples describe one approach to producing a novel matrix material.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome drawbacks which are associated with the non-Fuisz procedures. It is also an object of the present invention to provide improvements over the technology previously disclosed and claimed by Dr. Fuisz.